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Sanders opposes reappointment of Svinicki to NRC

Sanders opposes reappointment of Svinicki to NRC

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) issued the following statement Thursday on the reappointment of Commissioner Kristine Svinicki to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
â I have serious concerns about NRC Commissioner Svinickiâ s record on safety. With Commissioner Svinickiâ s vote, the NRC approved Vermont Yankeeâ s license extension a week after the Fukushima disaster, without even pausing to consider the safety implications for the Vermont plant which shares the same design as the Fukushima reactors that melted down.
â Commissioner Svinicki also voted in secret to recommend that the Department of Justice side with Entergy in its federal preemption lawsuit against the state of Vermont, despite admitting at a Senate hearing she had not read the seminal 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision on federal nuclear preemption. The NRCâ s job is to ensure safety, not to promote nuclear power.
â The Commissioner has not supported full implementation of all post-Fukushima safety reforms recommended by an NRC task force, and has in fact voted to approve licenses for two new nuclear reactors without requiring them to implement these safety reforms.
â Based on my concerns about Commissioner Svinickiâ s record, I believe we need a new commissioner who is fully committed to implementing safety reforms expeditiously.â